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Post by ComfortZone on Jun 25, 2023 17:48:07 GMT 12
CZ currently in Port Havannah, but we are in hotel in Port Vila. GF has come down with health problem needing doctor's care. Found a good doctor with well equipped cljnic, you don't want to go the hospital here. Our friends keeping an eye on CZ A few hours later and the GF is trending towards -
Better Worse Still the same, no change
Never fun having health issues in far flung places where they often speak funny.
I had one in Bora bora with a French only speaking Doc. That was not fun at all.
GF much much better now thankfully. Complaining that she can't have a drink because she is on antibiotics We are back on CZ for the night but need to go back in to town tomorrow again for another run of antibiotics The service we received was much better than you would get from a GP in NZ. If anyone wants the info the clinic is Vanua Medical centre, Dr Benito , just about opposite Yachting World. Very well equipped all new gear, and the dr is a biker to boot! They serve various embassies, ISOS and Alliance plus have contracts with the cruise lines, told us a few hairy stories about the latter. Vanuatu is pretty much the same as the rest of the Sth Pac Islands, except maybe New Caledonia. If you are seriously ill or injured you need to get out of there and back to NZ or Australia, they just do not have the facilities. Remember how Alan Warwick died of some infection after cutting himself in a market in Samoa. Fogg, re your son, you would need to have plenty of medicine on board to stabilise him if he had an issue and be prepared to fly him home pronto. Not sure whether travel insurance would cover him as pre-existing condition, probably best to talk to International SOS thru your employers to see what they can offer.
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Post by GO30 on Jun 26, 2023 11:53:34 GMT 12
Good to hear things are improving.
You can drink when taking antibots, just don't make it a big night and best to say off the sprits. A couple of beers or similar lower alcohol beverage one evening won't hurt. Sprits can react and that strips the stomach lining which can get very painful. Things you learn when you have to have a session with a military doctor before being send to the ends of the world aka Kiribati, Tuvalu and places like that where medical is a little sketchy. The Doc was military so the briefing took into account who was being briefed so it was done with reality in mind. If we came down with anything real bad they were going to airlift us out rather than rely on the local options.
Same on our bike trips. We log in to the local SOS clinic so they know we are in country. In Mongolia that gave us a second satph to use if we had a biggie and if we did they had a big fuck off ex russian military chopper they use to extract people back to Ulanbaator (the capital) for medical treatment.
When I arsed off in Vietnam and busted my leg in 2 places the local SOS clinic could get me into a MRI machine with 60-90min notice. It was going to take 3 weeks in NZ until I kicked off a bit and walked across the road to a private mob who did is around 12hrs later. I still can't work out why a nurse in the public system, when I said no worries I'm happy to go private due to your backlog' responded "No you can't do that, it'll pay with our quota". That's had me a little WTF ever since.
From snippets I've picked up around the Pacific, most places do know of very experienced Docs etc they can call up if it becomes a bit much for the local medical or the patient is special i.e has coin. The French territories more than the others from what I'm told. The Docs maybe there holidaying or on other projects. I know in Kiribati we had Doc Loiuse we could call on. She was 1/2 local, 1/2 German, smoking hot and trained/worked in London so right up with the play and while she didn't do anything local she did get calls on occasions. She was handy just to explain stuff to us in clean english and also when one of the lads got an infection that just wouldn't leave.
The Pacific, I do enjoys it's quirks.
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Post by ComfortZone on Jun 26, 2023 16:44:40 GMT 12
Good to hear things are improving. From snippets I've picked up around the Pacific, most places do know of very experienced Docs etc they can call up if it becomes a bit much for the local medical or the patient is special i.e has coin. The French territories more than the others from what I'm told. This is the key, we found there are half a doz expat doctors listed in Port Vila, but finding the right one was the key. Fortunately we were guided by an expat Kiwi (used to run a big charter cat Sth Seas Vagabonds) who pointed us in the right direction. Had 3rd and final visit today, much much better now. Clinic manager was having a bit of a gripe about how long the travel insurer (Alliance) was taking to respond (glad we have cover, which in any event is obligatory for New Caledonia), they are supposed to provide a round the clock service.
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Post by ComfortZone on Jun 27, 2023 21:05:57 GMT 12
Back on the move again, today motored all the way from Port Havannah to north side of Emae. Wasted my time hoisting the main when we left Havannah but it was just back winding trying to motorsail so dropped it and motored all the way. Cranked up the water maker to fill the drinking containers, Port Vila water is Ok but a bit hard, fine for the domestics and feeding the washing machine, yes we have one . Had the obligatory snorkel after dropping the anchor to see if it is in coral or sand, just missed the sandy stretch so up anchor and relaid about 15m further astern Emae is just a staging point, will be heading for Epi tomorrow where we will spend a week or so. Our friends on Sweetwaters spent last night in a bay on the western side of Nuna Island, did not sleep a wink with their yacht rolling its guts out. The principle of refraction is alive and well around the islands of Vanuatu, often get a roll coming in as we have tonight, but not to bad The tradewinds seem to have gone on holiday this week and the NiVans have been complaining about how cold it is, Sunday night in Port Vila was 13 deg. Tomorrow will be another motoring day, will not even bother taking the cover off the main, from PW Been amazed at the level of mobile coverage in Vanuatu so far this visit. Had coverage on probably 80% of today's passage. Emae would not have 500 inhabitants yet good coverage from both Digicael and Vodafone. Much better than we see at Gt Barrier
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Post by Fogg on Jun 28, 2023 10:18:46 GMT 12
Been amazed at the level of mobile coverage in Vanuatu so far this visit. Had coverage on probably 80% of today's passage. Emae would not have 500 inhabitants yet good coverage from both Digicael and Vodafone. Much better than we see at Gt Barrier Well when it comes to infrastructure NZ is just another South Pacific island developing country!
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Post by GO30 on Jun 28, 2023 16:47:37 GMT 12
Been amazed at the level of mobile coverage in Vanuatu so far this visit. Had coverage on probably 80% of today's passage. Emae would not have 500 inhabitants yet good coverage from both Digicael and Vodafone. Much better than we see at Gt Barrier Well when it comes to infrastructure NZ is just another South Pacific island developing country! But one of the very few who pays for their own.
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Post by Fogg on Jun 29, 2023 22:01:02 GMT 12
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Post by ComfortZone on Jul 9, 2023 12:31:10 GMT 12
We see the weather in NZ does not seem to be improving, so thought a few pictures from warmer climes would cheer you all up We passaged from Port Havannah to Epi Island, with overnight stop at Emae, motoring all the way no wind either day At Lammen Bay, Epi we all partook in on of Benny and Kenneth's wonderful dinners
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Post by ComfortZone on Jul 9, 2023 12:38:12 GMT 12
after a few days at Epi, we had a fast sail to the Village of Ranon, on the north side of Ambryn. Don Salthouse has spent quite a bit of time at this village in the past and has raised funds to build accommodation for visiting volunteers. These villages are pretty basic, the schools are the most permanent buildings we were invited to the primary school for the kids to sing to us yours truly investigating the faulty solar power system, the inverter had been burnt out and the batteries were flat. Seeing this repeated in other places, as soon as the locals see a power socket they want to plug everything into it and fry the system outdoor class for the young kids, we were like a magnet for all ages, especially the girls, the boys were a bit more shy
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Post by ComfortZone on Jul 9, 2023 12:46:56 GMT 12
from Ambryn had a nice sail flat off for Port Stanley, Malekula Is where there was a reasonable market for re-provisioning. after a couple of days sailed 2 hrs north to the little island of Rano, this has been the highlight for us anchored 30m off the beach in crystal clear water with lots of bommies close by teaming with fish. CZ is on 2:1 scope just hanging on the chain. the locals live a very subsistence lifestyle, a group of men are out every afternoon netting small fish on the whole the villages are very traditional, apart from the outboard powered long boats and the occasional mobile phone. Quite religious, services on Saturday night and Sunday morning we will hang round here for another day or 2 then head north for Espiritu Santo, bit of wind forecast for end of the week so want to be in a secure anchorage.
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Post by Fogg on Jul 9, 2023 15:27:03 GMT 12
Nice to see that someone here is living the dream, CZ! 😊
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Post by fish on Jul 9, 2023 21:20:18 GMT 12
We see the weather in NZ does not seem to be improving, so thought a few pictures from warmer climes would cheer you all up We passaged from Port Havannah to Epi Island, with overnight stop at Emae, motoring all the way no wind either day At Lammen Bay, Epi we all partook in on of Benny and Kenneth's wonderful dinners View AttachmentView AttachmentView AttachmentPlease come home CZ. It hasn't stopped raining since you left. I'm convinced this is your fault. And when you come back you will bring that lovely weather with you.
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Post by ComfortZone on Jul 17, 2023 11:09:10 GMT 12
Monday update. We left Rano last Wednesday to sail to Luganville, Espiritu Santo. Had a pleasant sail, again pretty much dead flat off (note, this means returning to Port Vila will be on the nose), where we have remained until now. We are all a bit weather bound with 25-30kts between the islands and reasonable seas, overcast and showers, forecast to drop right off later in the week. Hope to continue our way north Tuesday or Wednesday. We hear cruisers in Fji are experiencing similar conditions, at least it is warm here. First night was anchored in front of the Beach Front resort, couple of km's to west of Luganville township. Very good holding but lee shore/exposed to the seas coming down the harbour, had a stern anchor out to hold us more or less into the waves. Thursday morning walked the 40 min into town, to visit the markets for produce stock up (more tomatoes there than we have seen to date in Vanuatu), coffee stop, bakery stop, bit of a wander around and lunch before returning to CZ. Friends on "Reao" had got a mooring off the Aore Is Dive and Adventure tours (they run the trips to the Coolidge aoreadventures.com/ ) and had scouted the shores for us and Sweet waters to relocate. Managed to find a couple of sandy patches in amongst the bommies and drop offs for us to anchor, moved over there Thursday afternoon and have been there since. Spot is generally OK but I am a bit nervous being quite close to bommies and we swing around alot on the tide. Tried a stern anchor the first night, but CZ was swinging to much, just pulled it off the drop off and chewed up the anchor line (will run 20m of light chain on the end of the main chain in future, my stern anchor is a Guardian G-37 which generally hold OK and is light to handle) Friday we went for a walk around the Aore Point, the "guides" from Sweetwaters and Reao had interpreted and old sat view as showing a track all the way around but finished up having to scrub bash the last part of the way along the southern side. Saturday we launched the kayaks for a paddle down the coast to look at all the shore side properties and have lunch at the resort aoreislandresorts.com/On the way back we stopped to chat to a couple of guys working on a Rayglass fizzboat on a mooring. Turned out they were from Whangarei with Craig and Paula owning the beach front house. I had briefly met Craig on the 2019 ICNZ rally, we both checked out of Marsden Cove at the same time. Craig very kindly offered us all the water we wanted from his roof supplied tank, which took 3 trips to transport about 280 litres. I carry 3 20liter jerry cans for this purpose and borrowed 2 more from Reao to reduce the number of trips. I have a small water maker but at 12lph it is slow going. The houses on the island are all off grid, he had a bank of solar panels, a shed load of batteries and a diesel generator. water was both roof catchment and a bore with potable water. We have been reasonably comfortable where anchored with just a bit of roll coming around the point at times. We heard the family on the 14m cat Moxie, currently anchored at Palikulo Bay were getting bounced around so much they have moved ashore into a hotel until the weather abates. One addition I will make to CZ for any future cruises in tradewind areas is a wind generator, (this looks best option at present marinekinetix.com/wind_systems) not getting alot out of solar which means I need to run the engine 40min/day to sort of charge the batteries and pull the freezer down (have both engine drive and 12V Compressor). If i can get 8-10 amps/hr out of a wind generator would easily cover CZ's energy draw. Also thinking about upgrading the house alternator's regulator to a Wakespeed, the current Next Step unit backs off too early. On the historical side, Espiritu Santo was a major base for the Pacific war effort during WW II. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Advance_Base_Espiritu_Santobeing the spearhead to push the Japanese back out of the Solomons and New Guinea. Big RNZAF presence here with my father (pilot), an uncle (radio operator) and maternal Grandfather (logistics) all being based here at one time or another.
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Post by Fogg on Jul 17, 2023 13:04:58 GMT 12
Thanks for the update, CZ.
Sounds like life is quite busy up there and it’s not all just snorkelling and sipping cocktails in the sun.
I do really like a flattish anchorage for a good night’s sleep - my strange work hours means my sleep window can be quite narrow and I need to be able to put my head down and sleep quickly. The challenging anchoring conditions don’t sound ideal.
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Post by Fogg on Jul 17, 2023 19:24:04 GMT 12
I meant to ask what’s the water temp up there?
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